Monday, September 24, 2012

GOP's "War on Women" vs DNC's "Choice"

Watching the Democratic convention in Charlotte, at least in the hours before the networks started covering it, one might have gotten the impression that the chief threat to the common good in America is that some people want to restrict what was variously called “reproductive health care,” “the right to choose,” and, most simply if least frequently, “abortion.”

This subject was the theme of speeches by Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood; Nancy Keenan, the president of a group called NARAL Pro-Choice America; and activist Sandra Fluke, famous for having been called a slut by Rush Limbaugh. Maria Ciano, addressing the convention as a former Republican, endorsed the right to choose. So did Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and San Antonio mayor Julián Castro. Caroline Kennedy, herself famous for being the daughter of a former president, said that she was especially concerned about reproductive health care “as a Catholic.” Actress Kerry Washington mentioned the right to choose in her speech. The president did as well.
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Commentary by walford

The National Review article notes that several pro-abortion speakers addressed the DNC this year, increasing the prominence of the issue. The Republican Party's position on this issue has not changed and GOP candidates have not addressed it unless asked.

It was the Democrat Party that decided to make abortion and contraception synonymous with "women's health." In campaign ads, one of the things that is cited against the Republicans is that they oppose forcing employers and taxpayers to pay for abortion and contraception. That is true.

The Obama administration certainly cannot run on its economic record, so I can see how it would be tempting to divert attention elsewhere by fanning the flames of fear by showing videos of a Republican pushing an old lady off the cliff or implying that they will, as Obama had said, see to it that girls like his daughters would be "punished with a baby" should they "make a mistake."

Republicans object to controversial social issues like these being settled in the courts, understanding that the American people are divided and that their perspectives change over time. Law should only be made in the legislatures by our elected representatives, subject to revision and review.

In that arena, we can debate whether unlimited abortion and contraception are actually in women's interests [as well as society at large] and whether it is proper to force people to go against their conscience and/or religious principles -- in direct contravention of the First Amendment to the Constitution -- by paying for these things. If Roe vs. Wade was overturned, the issue would revert to the states wherein multiple approaches would be tried and changed as is determined by the people themselves.

It is clear, however, that the dominant view in the Democrat Party, is that some issues are too important to be trusted to a popular mandate. They prefer that a non-elected coterie of berobed Philosopher Kings settle the issue once and for all.

So which party is actually "pro-choice" and which is not?

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The Constitution does not guarantee abortion, but it does indeed explicitly address the right to life.

It is one thing to say that the government should not be involved in the removal of a liver or kidney -- which would make the argument that a woman should have the right to determine what is done with her own body. Secular humanist Utopians, in their self-serving hubris, seem to regard the fact that women of child-bearing age are vessels of life as some form of male-conspiratorial oppression. There is a palpable sense that they hold that the child developing in the womb is some sort of STD and should be treated as such.

Slavery, denying the vote and other forms of oppression were made legally possible by defining a certain class of people as second-class citizens -- if not as sub-human.

Many of the arguments in favor of killing an innocent baby in the womb can also be made in favor of a child who has been born.

Princeton ethicist Peter Singer advocates killing babies as long as a year after being delivered if the infant is determined [by whom?] to be "defective." And let us remember that Planned Parenthood was founded as a eugenics organization whose mission was to rid the world of undesirables [viz. people of color] and the disabled. One could argue if a mother had sex with her husband and was subsequently raped, the baby could be subject to execution if the child is determined to be the rapist's offspring.

These are the sorts of things should be subject to debate, revision and review according to a popular mandate. Neither those who are inconvenienced by someone's existence nor a panel of judges are qualified to resolve this issue on a personal level nor in issuing the Law of the Land, respectively. The defining of human life and whether someone is entitled to the
protection under the law is much more than a personal choice. Society at
large is affected and invested, therefor this essential human rights issue.should be subject to open and continuous debate.

1 comment:

There is no such thing as a 'war on women'. This fantasy gains ground only because the difficulties men face are invisible.

75% of homeless are men.90% of prisoners are men.80% of purchasing decisions are made by women.90% of custody decisions are won by women.70% of domestic violence is initiated by women.The majority of child abuse is by mom.